green revolution

Green Revolution,

term referring mainly to dramatic increases in cereal-grain yields in many developing countries beginning in the late 1960s, due largely to use of genetically improved varieties. Beginning in the mid-1940s in Mexico researchers led by American Norman E. BorlaugBorlaug, Norman Ernest, 1914–2009, U.S. agronomist, b. near Saude, Iowa, grad. Univ. of Minn. (Ph.D., 1942). He worked as researcher with the E. I. du Pont Company until 1944, when he joined the Rockefeller Foundation in Mexico......Click the link for more information. developed broadly adapted, short-stemmed, disease-resistant wheats that excelled at converting fertilizer and water into high yields. The improved seeds were instrumental in boosting Mexican wheat production and averting famine in India and Pakistan, earning Borlaug the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize. Significant though less dramatic improvements followed in corn. The Mexican program inspired a similarly successful rice-research effort in the Philippines and a network of research centers dedicated to the important food crops and environments of the developing world. More recent research has sought to respond to criticism that the Green Revolution depends on fertilizers, irrigation, and other factors that poor farmers cannot afford and that may be ecologically harmful; and that it promotes monocultures and loss of genetic diversity.

green revolution

the introduction of new species of crops and new techniques leading to greater crop yields. This began in Mexico in the 1950s, and from the mid-1960s new high-yielding varieties of rice and wheat were introduced in many THIRD WORLD countries. The most noticeable applications were in the Indian subcontinent where new strains of rice enabled double-cropping, eliminating a fallow period in the agricultural cycle. For a while these innovations were seen by many as solving food-supply problems. However, new problems arose, one of the most significant being that the new strains require heavy inputs of fertilizer, pesticides and machinery For Third World countries, these can be very expensive imports, and small farmers have been unable to gain access to the credit financing necessary for full advantage to be taken. Generally a p rocess of increasing impoverishment of poor farmers has resulted, with increasing income inequalities, a concentration of landholding and variable increases in food supplies. As Griffin (1979) points out, this was an example of a technological fix approach based on assumptions that technical solutions can operate independently of the institutional environment. He sums up by saying ‘the story of the green revolution is the story of a revolution that failed’. see also INTERMEDIATE TECHNOLOGY.

Today, he is a consultant to the International Maize and Wheat Center in Mexico and president of the Sasakawa Africa Association, a private Japanese foundation working to spread the Green Revolution to sub-Saharan Africa.

Chidambaram in Lok Sabha today, has focused on augmentation of green revolution by proposing various measures like continuing support to green revolution in eastern india, crop diversification in original green revolution States, bridging yield gaps between investment in agriculture and national food security mission, integrated watershed programme, pilot programme on nutri-farms, establishing national institute of biotic Stress Management and a pilot scheme to replant and rejuvenate coconut gardens.

In many respects, the root causes of this new anti-government movement are not that different from the resentments that fuelled the Green Revolution, namely: Decades of economic mismanagement by the clerical regime and endemic corruption, much of it blamed on the Revolutionary Guard which controls more than half of the Iranian economy.

The seventh African Green Revolution Forum, taking place in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, from September 4-8, 2017, will focus on "Accelerating Africa's Path to Prosperity: Growing Economies and Jobs through Agriculture".

All content on this website, including dictionary, thesaurus, literature, geography, and other reference data is for informational purposes only. This information should not be considered complete, up to date, and is not intended to be used in place of a visit, consultation, or advice of a legal, medical, or any other professional.